Kamchatka - Plot outline

Ten year old "Harry's" ordinary life of school, board games, watching television and playing with friends is violently disrupted when his father, a lawyer, and his university professor mother must flee from the military dictatorship's brutalities.

Abruptly they take "Harry" and his younger brother out of school and hide in a house on the city's outskirts, hoping that time will be on their side and allow them to remain together as a family until the regime is overthrown. They are forced to take new names, aliases, and Harry chooses the name of his idol Houdini, the Escape Artist. In one of the films many lyrical metaphors, we see how young Harry deals with the inescapable realities of his life by emulating his idol and trying to master the art of escape. In the wrenching contradictions of their situation, the boys find a loving happiness, a tender and intense closeness with their parents that they might never have had in their "normal" lives.

But, of course, escape from the regime's brutalities is impossible. As Harry's parents are hunted down, they must make the agonizing decision to leave their children with their grandparents or see them murdered.

Before the inevitable farewell moment comes, Harry and his father play Harry's favorite game - TEG (Tactics and Strategies for War).

Poco a poco comenzarán a apreciar las ventajas de su peculiar situación. El tiempo libre para explorar los confines de la finca. La oportunidad de conocer gente excitante y misteriosa, como Lucas, el adolescente a quien sus padres dan temporario asilo -Lucas también está en fuga-, y de quien recelarán primero para después convertirlo en su mejor aliado. Y la necesidad de adoptar nuevas personalidades, como los héroes de sus historietas favoritas; Harry, que no se llama Harry, elige ese nombre en homenaje a su ídolo, Houdini, el Rey de los Escapistas.

Father teaches his son a final secret -the secret of Kamchatka- that will help Harry hold out and keep his strength in his parents' absence, and until the regime is finally overthrown.

By telling the story of the 1976 Argentine military coup entirely through the eyes of young Harry, the off- screen horrors and brutalities of the military regime become even more present and shocking.